History of the Microwave Timeline

Raytheon licensed Mansfield, Ohio, to develop and market consumer microwave ovens, helping move the technology beyond commercial installations.

As home-version production approached, demonstrator microwave models were placed in selected Raytheon television, radio, and appliance dealerships in several states during 1953 and 1954.

In late 1954, a Raytheon vice president disclosed that commercial units cost $3,500 and pledged that consumer models made by stove companies in cooperation with Raytheon would be marketed within months at about $1,000.

Tappan exhibited a microwave oven in New York on October 27, 1955. It had already tested freestanding and in-wall prototypes in Mansfield households for much of the preceding year.

Raytheon licensed its patents for a home-use microwave oven to Tappan, which first sold the appliance in 1956. The oven remained too large and expensive for general household use.

Although Tappan had pledged an early-1956 release, U.S. appliance dealers began exhibiting the Tappan Electronic Oven in April 1956, typically advertising it at $1,250.

Image source: Tappan (brand)

Japan's Sharp Corporation began manufacturing microwave ovens in 1961, establishing an important Japanese presence in the expanding appliance industry.

Image source: Sharp Corporation

Between 1964 and 1966, Sharp introduced the first microwave oven with a turntable. The rotating platform promoted more even heating than the earlier microwave stirrer feature.

In 1965, Raytheon acquired Amana to gain additional manufacturing capability while expanding its Radarange technology into the home market.

Image source: Amana Corporation

Amana, then owned by Raytheon, introduced the first popular countertop microwave model in 1967. The countertop Radarange sold for $495, equivalent to about $5,000 in 2025 dollars.

By 1972, Litton's Atherton Division in Minneapolis introduced two microwave ovens priced at $349 and $399 to compete in a market projected to reach $750 million by 1976.

Image source: Litton Industries

Amana introduced automatic defrost in 1974 on its RR-4D microwave oven, adding a significant convenience feature for household cooking.

Amana became the first manufacturer to offer a microprocessor-controlled digital control panel, introducing the feature with its RR-6 model in 1975.

In Canada, fewer than 5% of households had a microwave oven in 1979, but more than 88% owned one by 1998.

By 1986, roughly 25% of households in the United States owned a microwave oven, compared with only about 1% in 1971.

In France, 40% of households owned a microwave oven in 1994, showing substantial adoption outside the United States.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that more than 90% of American households owned a microwave oven in 1997, illustrating its transformation into a nearly universal appliance.

In 2000, some manufacturers began adding high-power quartz halogen bulbs to convection microwave ovens. Products marketed as Speedcook, Advantium, Lightwave, and Optimawave emphasized rapid cooking and improved browning.

Image source: Microwave oven

A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study found that the average microwave oven drew almost 3 watts of standby power when unused, amounting to approximately 26 kilowatt-hours per year.

Image source: Standby power

Microwave ownership in Vietnam increased from 6.7% of households in 2002 to 16% in 2008, while refrigerator ownership rose from 14% to 30%.

Almost twice as many South African households owned microwave ovens in 2008 as in 2002: ownership rose from 19.8% to 38.7%.

The share of Russian households with a microwave oven grew from almost 24% in 2002 to almost 40% in 2008.

By 2004, microwave ownership in France had increased to 65% of households.

A 2006 study found that microwaving wet sponges for two minutes at 1,000 watts removed 99% of coliforms, E. coli, and MS2 phages.

A 2008 Australian market research study found that 95% of kitchens contained a microwave oven and that 83% of those appliances were used daily.

In India, about 5% of households owned a microwave oven in 2013, well behind refrigerator ownership at 31%.

New efficiency standards imposed by the United States Department of Energy in 2016 required most types of microwave ovens to use less than 1 watt of standby power, or approximately 9 kilowatt-hours per year.

Image source: Energy conservation

A 2017 study found that microwaving sponges killed about 60% of their microbes, but the remaining organisms quickly recolonized the sponge.

In 2018, microwave ovens globally used an estimated 77 terawatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to about 0.3% of worldwide electricity generation.

As of 2020, the majority of countertop microwave ovens sold in the United States, regardless of brand, were manufactured by the Midea Group.

Image source: Midea Group

Consumer household microwave ovens generally operate with cooking power between 600 and 1,200 watts, a range that became standard across many countertop and built-in models.